Natalie explained that the main theme the filmmakers were trying to portray was that Evangelicals are chipping away at the separation between Church and State. Towards the end of the review, Natalie comes back to some of the radical positions the camp had, and in particular, their positions against other religions. The pacing of the broadcast was fine. If at any time she paused, it was to collect her thoughts, not because she didn’t know what to say. Natalie recorded herself all the way through without stopping. I could hear her perfectly fine. She seemed like she prepared a solid outline of the topics she wanted to cover and I think she did a lovely job. Natalie was confident in her documentary as well as informed. She was able to convince me that she knew what she was talking about and put a lot of thought into the statements she was making. Natalie looked and sounded very sure of herself in her explanations and seemed to understand the grasp of the documentary. Natalie explained how 25% of the American population is Evangelical. She used the word “tenacious” when describing them and how they want to build a government in which they are comfortable. Evangelicals are involved and active in political issues that they’re concerned about. She related this to Mr. Baker’s example of the 2nd amendment and how only 1/3 of the population is tenacious with getting their views reflected in legislation. I found it particularly interesting that Evangelical’s played such a big role in electing George W. Bush. The film sounds interesting. I am not well-informed on Evangelicals so just by listening to Natalie’s review of the documentary I picked up on a few things. A strength the film seemed to have was how it related Evangelical’s to politics. Natalie gave a few examples such as a mother who home-schools her children discussing global warming and how she does not believe it exists, and how campers discussed abortion and some went to Washington D.C. to protest. Also, how Pastor Ted Haggard, the President of the National Association of Evangelicals, talks to President Bush and his advisors every Monday. The film seemed to really convey the importance of politics for Evangelicals. Something that came across as a weakness to me was Natalie saying how the film had somewhat of a bias against Evangelical Americans. She said they were depicted as fanatics. She said the kids in war paint and war dances at the beginning is startling and might give the average viewer the idea that all Evangelicals are fanatics. Something that jumped out at me was when Natalie talked about the Christian flag and the pledge of allegiance to the flag. It could just be those people in the film, but this may show that they see themselves as a political body versus just a coexisting religious belief. I really thought her review was impressive that Natalie only needed to refer to her notes occasionally. She spoke straight from her mind for long increments of time. Her layout of the review made it easier for me to understand her points. She would specify what she was leading into before she spoke about it.
The main theme of the documentary Jesus Camp was to illustrate the political activity of Evangelical Christians and to show the activities of their children. I thought Natalie made this theme very clear in her review. It was easy to find and everything was very easy to follow in her video. Natalie did a good job of presenting the theme of the documentary. I thought the pacing of the whole video was very good. I only had to stop the video a couple of times and rewind it to hear something again. Her volume was also very good. It was consistent throughout the video. Not only was the volume consistent, but I did not have a hard time hearing or have to turn the volume down because she was too loud. Natalie also seemed like she was very well prepared to do the video. She knew what she was talking about and clearly understood the documentary. Natalie’s video was also easy to follow; her transitions between her topics were very easy to follow and it was very clear as to what topic she would be discussing next. Natalie was confident in her broadcasting; although, I feel she looked at her computer screen with her notes for quite a large part of the video. It would have been nice if she made more eye contact with the camera, but it was not distracting from the overall presentation. Something very interesting that I learned from watching the video was that evangelicals believe that, in order to obtain salvation, they must be reborn. But, their rebirth is not like reincarnation of other religions; it happens during their current lifetime. Over 40% of Evangelicals are reborn by the age of thirteen. Something else that I thought was extremely interesting that I learned from Natalie’s video is that there is a Christian flag. Not only is there a flag, but there is also a pledge of allegiance to that flag. I had no idea that this even existed. One argument that I thought was interesting that Natalie presented was the argument that the documentary was presented like there was a war going on between the Evangelicals and everyone else, but specifically the Muslims. I thought it was interesting how they felt that Christians should be as committed to the Gospel and Jesus in the way some Muslims are to their faith. Some Evangelicals want Christians to radically lay their lives down for the Gospel. I think the documentary sounded very interesting because of the information it gave about Evangelical Christians. I do not know that much their religion and I think that this documentary would do a very good job of presenting information about them. I think this was one of its strengths. However, I agree with Natalie in that one of its weaknesses was that its title was misleading. The title leads one to believe that the movie is completely about the camp, but this was not the case. Instead the movie gave an overall impression about Evangelical Christians. While it seemed very interesting, the title makes it seem like the whole movie will go into depth about the camp Kids on Fire. Something that I learned that was interesting is that the number of evangelical Christians is growing in America. Considering they are such a radical religious group, I found it surprising that their numbers are growing in today’s society of political correctness and the desire to be moderate. I really liked the distance that Natalie was from the camera; I thought the way she had that set up was very good. However, I would have liked if someone was there to turn the camera on and off so that Natalie did not have to move to start and stop the camera. Overall, I think that this was an incredibly good review of a seemingly interesting documentary.
The main theme was explained clearly by Natalie and she seemed to really know what she was talking about. I understood the main theme to be that it was a film that follows children going to an Evangelical Christian summer camp. The film does not only focus on summer camp but also how Evangelical Christians are trying to build a government where they are comfortable because they are an important and growing faction. The pacing of the presentation was at a very even and easy pace which was perfect. There were not any long pauses and the only ones she had were when she was switching to a new subject or gathering her thoughts. The volume was satisfactory, her voice was not monotone and she spoke with enthusiasm so it was not boring to watch. She had notes on her computer screen but she did not read off the screen the whole time which was good. She seemed like she knew the material very well and I thought her comments of the film were not only informative but also humorous. It was nice that she did not just reiterate the film; instead she put it in her own words. Her examples she used, like the one about the second amendment and the right to bear arms and comparing it to the tenacity that the Evangelical Christians have in political actions that they are concerned about. One important fact that Natalie provided was that Evangelicals believe that to obtain salvation they must be born again by accepting Jesus as their savior and 43% are born again before they are thirteen. Another fact that Natalie said was that in Kansas they must teach intelligent design along with evolution. The film did sound interesting just because it seems so outrageous. The Evangelicals’ beliefs and the way they think of their opinions being the only right opinions seems to me that they are very biased towards their own opinions. What came across as a strength of the film was how they were able to showcase the Evangelical Christian religion, no matter how extreme they are, and show how the people in that religion have a voice in the US government. The film showed how the Evangelicals, although a minority, are able to have some importance in the government and making sure that their beliefs are represented. A weakness of the film, Natalie pointed out was how the location of the film was not protected and the site, where the Kids on Fire Camp (Jesus Camp) was, was vandalized after the film was released to the public. If the location was not given out of the camp then the vandalism would not have occurred and Pastor Becky would still be able to use the place to hold her Kids on Fire Camp. I think that Natalie did an awesome job with giving details about the camp. She did not read off her screen for long increments of time and it seemed like she really spoke from her mind. She had an animated voice when she talked and made the video interesting to watch. GOOD JOB NATALIE!
*This video was posted at 7:30 PM, although it is time stamped 8:44 am*
ReplyDeleteNatalie explained that the main theme the filmmakers were trying to portray was that Evangelicals are chipping away at the separation between Church and State. Towards the end of the review, Natalie comes back to some of the radical positions the camp had, and in particular, their positions against other religions. The pacing of the broadcast was fine. If at any time she paused, it was to collect her thoughts, not because she didn’t know what to say. Natalie recorded herself all the way through without stopping. I could hear her perfectly fine. She seemed like she prepared a solid outline of the topics she wanted to cover and I think she did a lovely job. Natalie was confident in her documentary as well as informed. She was able to convince me that she knew what she was talking about and put a lot of thought into the statements she was making. Natalie looked and sounded very sure of herself in her explanations and seemed to understand the grasp of the documentary. Natalie explained how 25% of the American population is Evangelical. She used the word “tenacious” when describing them and how they want to build a government in which they are comfortable. Evangelicals are involved and active in political issues that they’re concerned about. She related this to Mr. Baker’s example of the 2nd amendment and how only 1/3 of the population is tenacious with getting their views reflected in legislation. I found it particularly interesting that Evangelical’s played such a big role in electing George W. Bush. The film sounds interesting. I am not well-informed on Evangelicals so just by listening to Natalie’s review of the documentary I picked up on a few things. A strength the film seemed to have was how it related Evangelical’s to politics. Natalie gave a few examples such as a mother who home-schools her children discussing global warming and how she does not believe it exists, and how campers discussed abortion and some went to Washington D.C. to protest. Also, how Pastor Ted Haggard, the President of the National Association of Evangelicals, talks to President Bush and his advisors every Monday. The film seemed to really convey the importance of politics for Evangelicals. Something that came across as a weakness to me was Natalie saying how the film had somewhat of a bias against Evangelical Americans. She said they were depicted as fanatics. She said the kids in war paint and war dances at the beginning is startling and might give the average viewer the idea that all Evangelicals are fanatics. Something that jumped out at me was when Natalie talked about the Christian flag and the pledge of allegiance to the flag. It could just be those people in the film, but this may show that they see themselves as a political body versus just a coexisting religious belief. I really thought her review was impressive that Natalie only needed to refer to her notes occasionally. She spoke straight from her mind for long increments of time. Her layout of the review made it easier for me to understand her points. She would specify what she was leading into before she spoke about it.
ReplyDeleteThe main theme of the documentary Jesus Camp was to illustrate the political activity of Evangelical Christians and to show the activities of their children. I thought Natalie made this theme very clear in her review. It was easy to find and everything was very easy to follow in her video. Natalie did a good job of presenting the theme of the documentary. I thought the pacing of the whole video was very good. I only had to stop the video a couple of times and rewind it to hear something again. Her volume was also very good. It was consistent throughout the video. Not only was the volume consistent, but I did not have a hard time hearing or have to turn the volume down because she was too loud. Natalie also seemed like she was very well prepared to do the video. She knew what she was talking about and clearly understood the documentary. Natalie’s video was also easy to follow; her transitions between her topics were very easy to follow and it was very clear as to what topic she would be discussing next. Natalie was confident in her broadcasting; although, I feel she looked at her computer screen with her notes for quite a large part of the video. It would have been nice if she made more eye contact with the camera, but it was not distracting from the overall presentation. Something very interesting that I learned from watching the video was that evangelicals believe that, in order to obtain salvation, they must be reborn. But, their rebirth is not like reincarnation of other religions; it happens during their current lifetime. Over 40% of Evangelicals are reborn by the age of thirteen. Something else that I thought was extremely interesting that I learned from Natalie’s video is that there is a Christian flag. Not only is there a flag, but there is also a pledge of allegiance to that flag. I had no idea that this even existed. One argument that I thought was interesting that Natalie presented was the argument that the documentary was presented like there was a war going on between the Evangelicals and everyone else, but specifically the Muslims. I thought it was interesting how they felt that Christians should be as committed to the Gospel and Jesus in the way some Muslims are to their faith. Some Evangelicals want Christians to radically lay their lives down for the Gospel. I think the documentary sounded very interesting because of the information it gave about Evangelical Christians. I do not know that much their religion and I think that this documentary would do a very good job of presenting information about them. I think this was one of its strengths. However, I agree with Natalie in that one of its weaknesses was that its title was misleading. The title leads one to believe that the movie is completely about the camp, but this was not the case. Instead the movie gave an overall impression about Evangelical Christians. While it seemed very interesting, the title makes it seem like the whole movie will go into depth about the camp Kids on Fire. Something that I learned that was interesting is that the number of evangelical Christians is growing in America. Considering they are such a radical religious group, I found it surprising that their numbers are growing in today’s society of political correctness and the desire to be moderate. I really liked the distance that Natalie was from the camera; I thought the way she had that set up was very good. However, I would have liked if someone was there to turn the camera on and off so that Natalie did not have to move to start and stop the camera. Overall, I think that this was an incredibly good review of a seemingly interesting documentary.
ReplyDeleteThe main theme was explained clearly by Natalie and she seemed to really know what she was talking about. I understood the main theme to be that it was a film that follows children going to an Evangelical Christian summer camp. The film does not only focus on summer camp but also how Evangelical Christians are trying to build a government where they are comfortable because they are an important and growing faction. The pacing of the presentation was at a very even and easy pace which was perfect. There were not any long pauses and the only ones she had were when she was switching to a new subject or gathering her thoughts. The volume was satisfactory, her voice was not monotone and she spoke with enthusiasm so it was not boring to watch. She had notes on her computer screen but she did not read off the screen the whole time which was good. She seemed like she knew the material very well and I thought her comments of the film were not only informative but also humorous. It was nice that she did not just reiterate the film; instead she put it in her own words. Her examples she used, like the one about the second amendment and the right to bear arms and comparing it to the tenacity that the Evangelical Christians have in political actions that they are concerned about. One important fact that Natalie provided was that Evangelicals believe that to obtain salvation they must be born again by accepting Jesus as their savior and 43% are born again before they are thirteen. Another fact that Natalie said was that in Kansas they must teach intelligent design along with evolution. The film did sound interesting just because it seems so outrageous. The Evangelicals’ beliefs and the way they think of their opinions being the only right opinions seems to me that they are very biased towards their own opinions. What came across as a strength of the film was how they were able to showcase the Evangelical Christian religion, no matter how extreme they are, and show how the people in that religion have a voice in the US government. The film showed how the Evangelicals, although a minority, are able to have some importance in the government and making sure that their beliefs are represented. A weakness of the film, Natalie pointed out was how the location of the film was not protected and the site, where the Kids on Fire Camp (Jesus Camp) was, was vandalized after the film was released to the public. If the location was not given out of the camp then the vandalism would not have occurred and Pastor Becky would still be able to use the place to hold her Kids on Fire Camp. I think that Natalie did an awesome job with giving details about the camp. She did not read off her screen for long increments of time and it seemed like she really spoke from her mind. She had an animated voice when she talked and made the video interesting to watch.
ReplyDeleteGOOD JOB NATALIE!